


What the Water gave us

by ImperiusRex



Category: Invaders (Marvel), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Anger, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fights, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Mental Breakdown, What-If, if youre a fan of tony then this isnt the fic for you, shieldfish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 00:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21024629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperiusRex/pseuds/ImperiusRex
Summary: What if Steve had turned into an Atlantean in Invaders (2019) #6? He goes to confront Namor and find a way to get back to normal. Namor thinks Steve should be happy with his change but he isn't.





	What the Water gave us

**Author's Note:**

> Song lyrics in the fic are from What the Water Gave Me by Florence & the Machine.

Time it took us

To where the water was

That's what the water gave me

And time goes quicker

Between the two of us

Oh, my love, don't forsake me

Take what the water gave me

The knuckles on his right hand hurt from punching Namor’s face earlier and he clenches his fist as his heart pounds against his ribcage.  _ The bomb wasn’t a bomb, or at least it wasn’t an explosive one. _ That’s what penetrates his mind first--no one was dying. The chemicals swept the street he was on and he watches as human skin turns Atlantean blue.  _ Water. _ They needed water, but he needed to put on a mask or something otherwise he would be hit with the gas next, there wasn’t enough time: either save himself or get water to the civilians.

The fire hydrant gushed with a roar as a column of water gushes out after Steve busts it open with his shield and Steve feels the green chemical gas enter his lungs as he helps a woman get to the water. He made his choice, other people’s lives over his own.

“Steve… save her… St- steve.”

Jim’s voice is in his ears as his heart begins to beat faster, he couldn’t breathe. He gasps as his skin slowly starts to change; he pulls off one of his gloves and watches as his skin slowly turns into a shade of azure blue. Steve struggles to get air into his lungs. Whatever change he was undergoing, it was much slower than the other humans, maybe the super-soldier serum was combating it. Steve only hoped his advanced immune system would help, but for now he had to go. Nay needed him.

“Don’t let her die.” Jim’s voice crackles faintly from his dismembered head.  _ How could Namor do that to his oldest friend? How could he do that to Jim? _

“I won’t.” Steve promises as he swings onto his motorcycle and leaves Jim’s head behind; he needed to save Nay, then he could come back for Jim, if he wasn’t dead already. His chest hurts as the bike roars down the road, a glance in the tiny mirrors on the side of the bike and Steve sees a wall of water.  _ Namor. _ The man had brought forth enough water to drown the city so the people would live; Steve revs his engine and puts on more speed, he needed to get to Nay. Halfway there and he starts to get tunnel vision, the corners of his vision going darker as his body finally succumbs to the change, the sides of his neck flash with pain as gills split in his skin under his mask. He can’t use them unless he was in water. Black creeps along the edge of his vision as his body begins to shut down due to lack of water. He needs to be in the water and it  _ scares _ him.

_ “I GOT THIS CAP!” _

_ “BUCKY LET GO! LET GO!” _

_ ICE IN HIS VEINS, WATER CHOKING HIM, SURROUNDING HIM, ENCASING HIM IN ICE. _

Steve has always hated the water, anything bigger than a bathtub and he was immediately wary of it; growing up poor in the city meant they couldn’t go to beach vacations and he avoided public swimming pools--the bullies would try to drown him. Water was one thing sure to get Steve to hesitate, falling into the ocean and freezing for a few decades didn’t help the issue.

He finally sees the Petersons’ house and Nay is outside, trying to drag her body to the ocean. Steve doesn’t hesitate as he jumps off his bike and scoops her up, his legs shake as he runs, he doesn’t have much oxygen left as he races to the edge of the cliff and throws himself and Nay off of it. The long plunge into the water seems to last an eternity, his heart’s  ** _TWHUMP thwump THWUMP_ ** sounds louder than the waves crashing below. 

When the sea swallows him, Steve’s instinct is to shut his mouth, to save himself from drowning, but he doesn’t need to bother--his gills flared open, eagerly working as the water rushes into his mask over them for the first time . He gasps at the cool sensation and bubbles emerge from his mouth as he and Nay come to a stop, treading water. She is looking off into the distance while Steve is trying to calm his nerves, his mind flashing back to the cold years. He remembers them, he hates them, those long years left alone in the ice under the water. He remembers how cold the ice that chilled his heart felt, he remembers those last few moments when everything slowed down, he remembers hearing the sound of water all around him in his icy chamber; he hated the water,  **hated** it. He realizes that Nay is focused on something and he looks up.

Namor.

He was there with Roman, Nay’s son. Roman rushed over to grab his mother out of Steve’s arms; he was just as blue as she, and though they both had the gills and blue skin, they didn’t have the pointed ears of the Atlantean race. Steve can’t take his eyes off of Namor as Nay leaves with Roman, the two old friends stare each other down until something distracts Namor and he leans in as if he was listening to something before turning to follow the rest of the retreating Atlanteans. Steve lets out a gust of bubbles, whatever happened next. He had to talk to Namor; he had to find out if there was a way to fix this.

Days later and Steve still can’t get used to the water crushing him from every side and no matter what he does to distract himself, his mind is always screaming to go up, to find air.

He had spent the first night in his new condition trying to see how long he could stay out of water on the beach--not long, he could barely stand a few minutes without crawling back into the waves. Bucky had come by, brought things for the people who changed and who didn’t want to go to Atlantis. Steve had coordinated them and they were as good as they could get considering their situation. He swore he would find a way to make things right, he had to have hope that he could.

“You have to go to Atlantis. Talk to Namor.” Bucky’s voice sounds urgent as it travels from his helmet to Steve’s ears.

“I know…”

“Why haven’t you?”

He was afraid. What if there was no way to reverse this? He would be stuck in the sea for the rest of his life. Steve was so close to panicking that if he pulled on one stray emotion he would unravel.

“Steve?” Bucky looks at him through his mask, “If Namor won’t tell you of a way to fix this, then we won’t stop until you’re back on land.”

Steve nods. Bucky reports that Jim was being fixed up by Toro who came when he found out what happened, pissed that no one had called him in for this. Toro had help from Reed who had worked on Horton cells before, so that Jim could be restored to his own body. Tony had wanted to take Jim but Toro had punched him in the face when Stark suggested that he could give Jim a new upgraded body.

“You should’ve seen it Steve, I had to drag Toro off of Tony, it wasn’t pretty. None of the Avengers know what to do now, I told them this was still Invaders business and to leave it to us, they might or might not, but at least now Tony won’t be sniffing around for spare parts from Jim. I don’t trust him Steve.”

Steve didn’t really want to explore how he felt about Tony getting punched, mainly because he probably wouldn’t have stopped Toro either or he would have joined him.

“Tony is a lot of things Bucky, but I don’t have any more time or energy to figure out what they are. Our friendship-,” The words felt wrong in his mouth _ , when were they ever friends? When had they ever been close without some kind of fighting going on? _ Steve was done. After what Tony pulled, he was done. He had other things to focus on. He had real friends who were counting on him, and not to be there as Tony’s punching bag. “It was complicated.”

“Was?”

Steve hears the loaded question in Bucky’s voice. The water moves Steve’s blonde hair as he turns his face away, he had tossed his helmet days ago and didn’t need his uniform anymore now that he was Atlantean, but he still kept his uniform on… something about the comforting feeling of it makes him feel more in control. He was still him, still Steve, still Captain America.

“Was Steve?” Tony’s voice sounds through the water, the Iron Man suit muffling it, “You wound me Cap. I would have thought that after everything-“

“What do you want Tony?” Steve grits his teeth and watches the turned humans in the distance as they moved about their makeshift camp, trying to figure out how to survive underwater. There was a small group of Atlanteans nearby, who would talk to any who came over, and try to convince them to come to Atlantis.

Tony sets himself down on the sandy bank they were standing on and Bucky’s distaste is clear though his mask.

“I was told that you had changed, had to see it for myself. Who would have known, seems like old dogs can do new tricks.” Tony’s joking makes Steve’s jaw tick. He was always doing this, joking around like nothing mattered, and yeah it might be a coping mechanism but Steve wasn’t in the mood to psychoanalyze Tony. “I also came to tell you we need to get to Atlantis to see Namor, and put a stop to this permanently.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Bucky tenses, Cap never swears in public, not in front of other team members who weren’t the Invaders. Even Tony seems a bit taken aback.

“Well that’s an actual swear, not a good one, but still--”

“How about shut the fuck up? That a good enough swear for you Tony?” Steve turns to face him, he tries to keep distance between them, but all he wants is to rip off Tony’s helmet and see how he feels to be surrounded by water and terrified that at any minute he might drown. “I cannot believe you’re down here trying to talk me into going into my friends home and killing him, cause that’s your plan isn’t it? That’s what it was all along, killing Namor, just so you could be the hero.”

“Now Cap that’s unfair, you saw what he did--”

“Yeah, what he did after you played right into his game, and attacked Atlantis. What did you think was going to happen? Atlantis was just gonna let you all go with a slap on the wrist?”

“No, but we could have handled it if you didn’t fight us! You were the one who caused all this because you couldn’t let go of the old ties between you and Namor.”

“Yeah I can’t let that go; I can’t let my friend go. Unlike you, I don’t use people and then drop them when they become inconvenient.” His palms hurt now, from clenching his fist so tightly.

“Namor isn’t your friend!  _ LOOK AT WHAT HE DID TO YOU STEVE _ . How can you be friends with that mad man--”

The punch hurt less then he thought it would, though Steve had braced himself for pain, and he had to pull back lest he crush Tony’s helmet, his strength had grown to that of an Atlantean. Bucky is on him, using his metal arm to pull Steve back, 

“It’s not worth it Steve!” 

“Damn you Bucky, I’m tired of it. Tired!” Steve whips around to Tony who had his palms up ready to blast him, “TIRED TONY! TIRED OF ALL THE SHIT YOU PULL, THE HOLIER THAN THOU CRAP. Yeah I make mistakes, but I didn’t give the order to brainwash my friends when you decided that me not wanting to blow up planets was inconvenient. I don’t constantly make my friends fell like shit or keep dragging them into the same old bullshit where you fuck up and I’m stuck cleaning up your mess.”

“I’m proud of you Steve, for letting it all out, just how long have you been holding on to that anger huh? I bet you must have enjoyed that hit.”

Steve sucks in water and lets Bucky pulls him away from Tony's face, he hated that mask. He struggles to gain control, “No… unlike you, Tony, I don’t enjoy violence, or making weapons. I use the tools I have to keep people safe, to keep my friends safe, and you and Namor have never seen eye to eye, and I know that you tolerated each other for my sake but you can stop pretending like you care about anything but yourself and your ego Tony, because I’m done.”

“Yeah, well, I was going to put all my money and research into finding a cure, but if you would rather stay down here and play little mermaid--”

“Just like you wanted to pay me, just like you wanted me to live in Avengers mansion, take over the leadership of the Avengers… you always find a way to keep me close. Sometimes it's money and other times it’s obligation but I stayed because I had to. But I don’t have to anymore, if you wanna make a cure for the people here, go ahead. I’ll find my own way, Tony, without you. And like I told you when this all started, this is Invaders business and that’s not a club you can buy your way into.”

Tony’s repulse glows brighter for a second but then he puts his hand down. “Fine. I was trying to help--’

“I told you I don’t need your help,”

Tony reacts like it was a slap in the face, and after that turns and leaves. Steve doesn’t watch him go.

Bucky stays for a bit but Steve doesn’t want to talk so he leaves not long after that, and Steve leaves the waters near the shore for the first time, towards the Atlanteans who waited for others to join them before leaving for the night to Atlantis.

“Take me to him.”

*****

Now he was treading water outside of the main city, it never failed to take his breath away; well, he could breathe underwater now but when he saw it for the first time he had been awestruck. For weeks after all he could do was draw the fantastical tall spires, the glass buildings with glowing lights that shone like small embers in the dark ocean, and when he slept he had dreamed of Atlantis.

They swam quickly and Steve had to hurry to catch up, he wasn’t used to swimming. He could swim, but he had been taught by the government after he’d received the serum, he had never had time to learn growing up. No, he was too busy trying to survive poverty with his mother. He thinks Sarah would have loved this place; she always listened to his wild stories, and would smile at him while she did the dishes as he drew on their kitchen table. Steve feels a pang in his chest at the thought of seeing her expression, full of limitless wonder, at the sight of this fabled city.

Steve is escorted to Namor’s chambers, it’s still early in the day or Steve thinks it is, he can’t really tell time down here. The guards exchange words in Atlantean with the palace guards who stand by Namor’s door; the latter two give Steve a once-over and Steve gives them a hard stare.

“Weapons?” the one on the right asks, he has a large scar on his chest, maybe from a shark.

“None.”

“What do you call that?” He points to the shield on Steve’s back

“It’s a shield, not a weapon, and it stays with me.”

The four exchange glances, probably trying to decide whether or not to wrestle Steve for the shield, and they would have to fight him because Steve wasn’t giving it up. The heavy doors behind the guards open and Namor is there, in what Steve could only call evening wear--an open long black robe that seemed to glitter with light and a pair of black speedos that seemed more like woven cloth than the scaled one he usually wore.

“Let him enter and leave us.” His voice was a command and his men obeyed, they swam off without a word to Steve. Namor had already turned, reentering his room. Steve lingers for a moment, before finally following, closing the door behind them. He finds Namor standing at a large glass window that overlooked the city, his back to Steve. Steve takes a moment to look around Namor’s bedroom; he had never been here before when he visited Atlantis in the past. It was huge, the bed dominates one side of the room, and there is a seating towards the left, and more doors beyond that. Namor’s back is stiff; his hands are clasped behind his back as he watches a school of fish swim by.

“I hope you are finally embracing your Atlantean side?”

“I’m not Atlantean and you know that, Namor,” His voice is harsh, angry. Steve takes a breath, still unused to the bubbles that emerged from his lips and his gills working.  _ Stay calm _ . “I came to ask you for a cure.”

Silence, and then in a soft voice from the King, “Oh captain… there is no cure.”

It hits Steve harder than it he thought it would, hadn’t he had the suspicion that there might not be one? He feels shaken, and his gills try to take in more oxygen. Namor is unaware of Steve’s internal struggle. His voice is smooth and imperious as ever.

“Why do you want to leave? The sea is your home now.”

“No, my home is the surface.”

“I will make Atlantis a world power again, for too long we have suffered. You best get used to this Captain, soon everywhere will be Atlantis.”

“You keep repeating that, is that you Namor? Or is that Tommy whispering in your ear?”

And there it is, the culmination of all the rage that Steve has bottled up inside, days of worrying about Namor, the other Invaders. Days of planning and thinking about ways to save Namor from the mess he created. Wasn’t Steve always doing that? Cleaning up other people’s messes. He lets loose and swims quick to close the distance between them. He grabs Namor’s shoulder, turning him roughly around to grab the fronts of his robe, and slams him against the glass so hard that it makes a hairline crack that runs the length of it. Steve doesn’t care, it could break but he was already underwater. The robe is made of thousands of tiny black fish scales, they shimmer in his hands, and he can’t get used to the blue skin where his own human skin was before.

“New York! My home! The places where I get to choose to be are my home! Not where I was forced to come! I don’t belong here! You took away people’s choices! If you had asked it would have been different, but you didn’t.”

Namor’s eyes, up close, are even more inhuman; the black of his sclera makes the green iris stand out. His mouth is a thin line and those cheekbones give his face a sharpness that makes him dangerous. Steve is angry, so angry, at himself for not seeing things clearer earlier. He had noticed the eyes, but he hadn’t noticed just how much Namor wasn’t himself. Namor would never let anything like this happen to anyone.

“I have a people to protect--“

“You know I would have helped you. I would have been there. You should have reached out, when you knew that Tommy was in your head. You should have called me.”

“I have--”

“You had us, before you tore the Invaders apart Namor, you had us and now what do you have?”

“I have my people Rogers, I have to protect them. Protect Atlantis”

“We would have helped!”

“I don’t need your help! I don’t need help from any surface man. I am the Avenging Son; I am the protector of the seas--”

Namor pushes Steve off of him, he is stronger and he pins Steve to the floor, arms above him as he straddles his waist, his robes and hair floating in the water. Steve looks up but he doesn’t fight him like he knows Namor wants. There has been too much fighting between them. Steve’s voice is steady but the image of what had happened to the Human Torch is still so vivid. He speaks.

“You hurt Jim.”

It breaks him, and Steve knew it would. He hates to do it, but he had no choice, he had to break through to him, “You hurt Jim, Namor, you hurt him, you took his head off his body; you did that.”

Namor shakes his head in a silent no, and Steve thinks tears fill his eyes but he can’t be sure underwater.

“They kill and kill and kill and my people’s blood turns the water red, Steve.” Namor’s voice is ragged and rough.

“Let me help you Namor, please…”

Namor shakes his head again as if trying to fight some thought. Every word pulled from his throat is difficult as he struggles to get them out as if Tommy was holding him back, “I don’t know what to think anymore, he is always there, Steve, in my head talking to me…. I …. I think- I think I hurt Jim,” tears glisten in his eyes to be carried away in the water, “I hurt –” A soft sob finally makes its way out. Namor’s grip loosens and Steve is able to bring one hand up to the King’s face tosoftly cradle it. The other tangles in his black hair and he pulls Namor down to kiss him.

Namor accepts his kiss, and Steve’s invitation. Their bodies comfort each other desperately as Steve continues to talk to him, to keep his thoughts with him instead of back in his head with Tommy. He lets Namor fill him and shows his pleasure as the King moves his hips. Clawing at Namor’s back when he slowed. It was not often that Steve did this, but back in the war he, Jim, and Namor had not an agreement but some kind of understanding that when things got to be too much, too hard to handle, they would find each other and crawl into one another’s bunk to share comfort and warmth. He fondly recalls cold nights with Jim at his back as he hugged Namor to his chest, the three of them under the covers. He loved them, both of them, in a way he knew they loved him too and now Namor needed him and Steve gave himself to him.

And oh, poor Atlas

The world's a beast of a burden

You've been holding on a long time

And all this longing

And the ships are left to rust

That's what the water gave us

Later, Steve lays on the floor of Namor’s room looking up at the ceiling where a shining fixture made of metal that twisted into octopus tentacles held small glass orbs, they slowly lit up one after the other as night comes. Their bioluminescent blue glow bathes the room as Namor sleeps on his chest. It had been an experience, making love as an Atlantean, he found he had no gag reflex and other things that Namor taught him would leave a lasting impression. But he worries now.

“Namor. Is there a way to change me back?”

The King stirs, and opens tired eyes, he gives Steve not a smile, but a lessening of tightness around the corners of his mouth, “You look handsome in blue. A shining jewel.” He lays kisses on Steve’s neck and he shudders.

“Namor.” His tone firm, he won’t let Namor edge away from this.

Namor sighs as he heaves himself up, and walks naked to his bed to sit upon it. Head in his hands and he rests his elbows on his knees, “He won’t stop whispering… telling me to kill you.”

“You wouldn’t do that Namor. I trust you.”

“You are a fool, Rogers.”

“So you’ve said many times over the years.” Steve grins a bit as he joins Namor on the bed, “Tommy is dead Namor, that thing in your head isn’t him. We’ll talk to Emma Frost, she can help... But I need to know if I can change back.”

“It was supposed to be permanent, but there is a chance… my scientists will make things right.  _ I will make things right _ .” He doesn’t look at Steve and the last line is as if he is speaking to someone else in the room, but there is no one there but the two of them. Steve looks warily around, and wraps his arm around Namor’s shoulder 

“We will make things right.  _ Together _ .”

Namor looks at him at last, sees the marks he made earlier. Purple on blue, he touches them lightly, and solemnly says, “Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this fic after issue 6 came out and before Steve and Bucky turned into Atlanteans in Invaders (2019) #10, just as a what if? kinda fic.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta Nicole for her help in this!
> 
> Comments & Kudos are always appreciated!


End file.
